Prophecy of Daniel 1123
woman, and one that feared God.
3 For her parents being just, had instructed
their daughter according to the law of Moses.
4 Now Joakim was very rich, and had an or-
chard near his house: and the Jews resorted
to him, because he was the most honourable of
them all.
5 And there were two of the ancients of the
people appointed judges that year, of whom the
Lord said: That iniquity came out from Babylon,
from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern
the people.
6 These men frequented the house of Joakim,
and all that hand any maters of judgment came
to them.
7 And when the people departed away at
noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her hus-
band’s orchard.
8 And the old men saw her going in every day,
and walking: and they were inflamed with lust
towards her:
9 And they perverted their own mind, and
turned away their eyes, that they might not look
unto heaven, nor remember just judgments.
10 So they were both wounded with the love
of her, yet they did not make known their grief
one to the other.
11 For they were ashamed to declare to one
another their lust, being desirous to have to do
with her:
12 And they watched carefully every day to
see her. And one said to the other:
13 Let us now go home, for it is dinner time.
So going out, they departed one from another.
14 And turning back again, they came both
to the same place: and asking one another the
cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then
they agreed together upon a time, when they
might find her alone.
15 And it fell out, as they watched a fit day,
she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day
before, with two maids only, and was desirous
to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot
weather.
16 And there was nobody there, but the two
old men that had hid themselves, and were be-
holding her.
17 So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and
washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard,
that I may wash me.
18 And they did as she bade them: and they
shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by
a back door to fetch what she had commanded
them, and they knew not that the elders were
hid within.
19 Now when the maids were gone forth, the
two elders arose, and ran to her, and said:
20 Behold the doors of the orchard are shut,
and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with
thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us.
21 But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness
against thee, that a young man was with thee,
and therefore thou didst send away thy maids
form thee.
22 Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened
on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death
to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your
hands.
23 But it is better for me to fall into your
hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight
of the Lord.
24 With that Susanna cried out with a loud
voice: and the elders also cried out against her.
25 And one of them ran to the door of the
orchard, and opened it.
26 So when the servants of the house heard
the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the
back door, to see what was the matter.